Chembai, being the most noted singer from Kerala in the past century, has been the foremost among the singers to patronise their lyrics by setting them to tune as per his imagination and singing them in his inimitable style.

After the court musicians of Swati Tirunal who dedicated their compositions to him in the name of the ruling deity Padmanabha, hardly any vaggeyakara has originated from Kerala.

Irayimman Thampi (Not Ravivarman thampi) was a Vaggeyakara who also set tune for his songs. IIRC he was a contemporary ( or uncle) of Swathi Thirunal who compiosed a lullaby for Swathi Thirunal Omana thingal kidavo in Navroj.
Another famous composition of him is Karuna cheyvan enthu thamasam in Sree Ragam which is sung by Chembai in Yadukulakambodi. There are many other compositions as well.

After the court musicians of Swati Tirunal who dedicated their compositions to him in the name of the ruling deity Padmanabha, hardly any vaggeyakara has originated from Kerala.-classical lover
This is not correct. There are many composers in Kerla whose songs are sung in concerts in Kerala (eg.K.C.Kesava Pillai, Kuttykunju Thankachi). I remember Parassala Ponnammal Mami gave a concert in Chennai about five years ago consisting of compositions of Kerala composers.

Irayimman Thampi has composed a number of padams and pada varnams.The following are a few which are heard in concerts
1.ArOtu colvEnE azhaluLLatellAm- indiSam/nAthanAmakRiya -chappu tALam(padam)
2.pRANa nAthanenikku nalkiya-kAmbOji-Adi tALamsOmOpama Mukhi sudati-sAvEri-chappu tALam(padam)
3.chentAr sAyaka rUpa ! nRupa-behAg-chappu tALam(padam)
4.manasi mE paritApam-SankarAbharaNam-Adi tALam(pada varnam)
Besides, he has authored kathakaLi plays- kIchaka vadham,utharA svayamvaram and dakshayAgam.As we know, in kathakaLi ,story is told in the form of songs-padams,slokams,danDakams etc which are composed in pure classical ragas(some ragas are in vogue only in kerala-eg:- indiSam, ghantaram). padams like 'lOkadhipa kAnta' in yadukula kAmbOji(or, erikkila kAmodari as it is called in kathakaLi sangItam) are rendered in concerts.

The book of compositions of Irayimman Thampi entitled," ōmanattiṅgaḷ: iriyimman tampiyuṭē saṅgīta kr̥tigaḷ" (book info) published by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy in 1973 has long gone out of publish. Ifanyone has the book, please contact me.

Thanks, Lakshman Sir. One song is missing: varadē śaśidhara cētōpahāriṇi in tōḍi. This song was featured in the Carnatica concert album of Parassala Ponnammal entitled, "Composers of Travancore" (link).

The composition, "karuṇa cēyvānantu" was originally composed in the rāga puranīrmai - there is a (gone extinct?) recording of CVB explaining that this rāga is not found in any authoritative texts but exists - has close semblance to yadukula khāmbhōji in structure with some minute differences in uses of phrases to the latter.

Last edited by kmrasika on 03 Sep 2012, 14:35, edited 2 times in total.